60 HRS OF NON-STOP CHESS - NIGERIAN BREAKS MARATHON RECORD

When it comes to breaking records, Nigerians have few equals.

This time, 29-year-old Tunde Onakoya smashed the world chess marathon record by playing for 60 hours on 19 April against US chess champion Shawn Martinez.

Cheered on by fellow Nigerians and well-wishers at New York's Times Square, Onakoya broke the previous record of 56 hours, 9 minutes and 37 seconds that Norwegians Hallvard Haug Flatebø and Sjur Ferkingstad had set in 2018.

Onakoya hopes to raise $1 million for children's education in Africa through his feat. His non-profit, Chess in Slums Africa, works to uplift poor children by teaching the game.

More than 10 million Nigerian children are out of school, one of the highest rates in the world, as one out of every 5 children who is not in school lives in Nigeria.

Onakoya credits chess with saving him from the poverty he endured growing up in Lagos's infamous floating slums.

The Guinness World Records has yet to confirm his success.